Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Frank Deford grrrr-ness

Just to make sure I wasn't about to needlessly criticize Frank Deford after hearing his segment on Morning Edition an hour ago, I went to the website to look at the copy.
But I was right. Deford commits that most common and egregious of errors: referring to the game of college basketball when he really means men's collegiate basketball.
College basketball has been, he says, ho-hum this season, with no dominant team and not star player (except for "novelty" of the white BYU standout--is he being racist or chastising those who are? so hard to tell with Deford).
Um, well I think collegiate basketball has been pretty interesting this season. The dominant UConn has retained its dominance with other teams nipping at Connecticut's (Achilles) heels. Baylor, Stanford, who beat them early in the season, Notre Dame put up a good fight last night too. Maya Moore remains an outstanding player. Britney Griner of Baylor has had a great season as well. The Big 12 has been a hotbed of great match-ups this season.
So Frank Deford, please don't make generalizations. I can't wait to see how the excitement of this season comes to fruition this month!

And PS--March Madness is not the largest single elimination tournament in the world. The tennis grand slams start with 128. OK, it's not a team sport. But that's not what Deford said. He's managed to erase not just women's basketball but individual sports as well.
Guess it's time to write a letter to NPR. Not that they don't have enough problems today...

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